Collaborative Research: Using Somatosensory Speech And Non-Speech Categories To Test The Brain's General Principles Of Perceptual Learning

人类大脑对新奇的感觉信息表现出惊人的适应能力。这种适应的一个例子是聋哑盲人，他们学会通过触觉感知口语，把一只手放在说话人的脸上和喉咙上。这个例子告诉我们，体感系统可以进行语音感知，这通常被认为是在听觉领域。Drs。乔治城大学的Maximilian Riesenhuber和乔治华盛顿大学的Lynne E. Bernstein以及他们的多学科团队将使用先进的功能性脑磁共振成像（fMRI）和脑电图（EEG）来研究躯体感觉系统学习人工分类和语言分类的神经机制。在他们的研究中，他们使用一种新型的换能器向接受人工分类或语音分类训练的参与者的前臂呈现高维刺激。该团队正在研究体感模式的人工类别的感知学习是否遵循已知的控制听觉和视觉类别学习的原则。第二个目标是，研究人员正在训练参与者识别被转化为振动模式的口语。言语刺激的设计是为了解决跨感官学习和跨听觉和视觉语言类别的联系问题。在训练前后，功能磁共振成像和脑电图测量被用于确定大脑中新学习的类别在何时何地被表征。这个项目正在推动关于大脑在学习新的躯体感觉类别方面的可塑性的知识前沿，包括首次展示通过触觉学习语言的神经基础。了解大脑中感觉处理的一般原理，特别是不同感觉模式下潜在神经机制的共性和差异，对于听觉和/或视觉障碍的神经假体设计等实际应用具有重要意义。例如，听觉或视觉感觉系统受损的患者可能会受益于用振动触觉刺激代替受损感觉系统无法获得的信息的设备。振动触觉刺激可以与视觉或听觉刺激相结合，以改善飞机驾驶舱等嘈杂环境中的语音感知。本项目的功能磁共振成像和脑电图数据以及参与者培训期间保存的详细记录将提供给研究界。在训练前后获得的大脑测量值对于测试关于大脑可塑性和学习的新假设具有成本效益。研究成果将通过出版物和会议发言广泛传播。该研究项目还将广泛用于培养研究生和本科生级别的下一代科学家，并特别关注代表性不足的少数民族。

The human brain displays astonishing adaptation to novel types of sensory information. An example of such adaptation is deaf-blind individuals who learned to perceive spoken language through their sense of touch, by placing a hand on the face and throat of someone producing speech. This example tells us that the somatosensory system can carry out speech perception, which is normally thought to be in the domain of hearing. Drs. Maximilian Riesenhuber of Georgetown University and Lynne E. Bernstein of George Washington University along with their multidisciplinary team will use advanced functional magnetic resonance brain imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying the learning of artificial categories and speech categories by the somatosensory system. In their research they are using a novel transducer to present high-dimensional stimuli to the forearm of participants who are trained on artificial or speech categories. The team is addressing whether perceptual learning of artificial categories of somatosensory patterns follows principles known to govern auditory and visual category learning. For their second aim, the researchers are training participants to recognize spoken words that are transformed into patterns of vibration. The speech stimuli are designed to address questions about cross-sensory learning and the linking of speech categories across hearing and vision. Before and following training, fMRI and EEG measures are being applied to determine where and when in the brain newly learned categories are represented. This project is pushing the frontiers of knowledge about the brain's plasticity for learning novel somatosensory categories, including showing for the first time the neural bases for speech learning through the sense of touch.Understanding the general principles of sensory processing in the brain, and in particular the commonalities and differences in the underlying neural mechanisms across sensory modalities, is of great interest for practical applications such as the design of neuroprostheses for hearing and/or vision disorders. For example, patients who have auditory or visual sensory system damage may benefit from devices that substitute vibrotactile stimuli for information no longer available through their damaged sensory systems. Vibrotactile stimuli can be combined with visual or auditory stimuli to improve speech perception in noisy situations such as the cockpit of a plane. The fMRI and EEG data from this project along with detailed records kept during training of participants will be made available to the research community. The brain measures obtained before and after training will be valuable for cost-effective testing of new hypotheses about brain plasticity and learning. Research results will be broadly disseminated through publications and conference presentations. The research project will also be leveraged extensively to train the next generation of scientists, at the graduate and undergraduate level, with a particular focus on underrepresented minorities.